


The one who vanished

by FernShaw



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Adoption, Also Hornet isn't the only one adopting here, Big happy family crying, Canonical Character Death, Family Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, If this gets a sequel I swear it'll get better, Yeah we got mama Lace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25002238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernShaw/pseuds/FernShaw
Summary: Hornet can't get over her sibling's death. So she kept their charmsLittle did she know one of theses held a little being that might be Ghost's last gift to her.
Relationships: Grimmchild & Hornet (Hollow Knight), Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight), Kinda - Relationship, implied
Comments: 9
Kudos: 86





	The one who vanished

Thinking about Ghost was ... Hard. 

Yes, Hornet never got to know them properly. The only moments they shared together weren't really happy nor something that you would expect from a family member. But, even with that in mind, Hornet couldn't help but blame herself on the fact that she couldn't get closer to them. They were probably the first person she got really attached to after her mother's sacrifice. She'd learn to stand still, stay strong, and survive. She wanted to believe that the little being was capable of something she never thought was possible before. She would have gladly invited them to have a few moments together after everything went back to normal. 

But that was too late. 

Ghost was gone. Forever. 

They sacrificed themselves to free Hallownest and Hollow from the embrace of the Radiance. Maybe they truly were Hollow. Maybe they never had any feelings towards anything. No that was almost sure. But Hornet couldn't get over the fact the she could, and should have done more. 

When she saw Hollow getting out of the black egg temple, Hornet took a little bit of time to process what happened but quickly got to an obvious conclusion : her sibling was obviously the cause of it. There was no other possible solution to it. So, after helping a bit Hollow to get better, she went through hallownest to find something. A solution. An answer. It took her a little while but after getting into the junk pit, everything was clear, or almost clear. A few things were on the ground, just laying down like no one noticed it for days. Most of it were random things, but the cloak and the nail were what made her realize it. 

Ghost was no more. They had sacrificed themselves to somehow kill the Radiance but couldn't make it. 

Hornet brought everything she found to dirtmouth. It was hard to carry. Not physically but mentally. She'd never felt that way before, actually mourning someone that wasn't her dear mother. Saying to herself that she could and should have done something more. It was horrible. Frustrating. 

She didn't kept everything into her house but couldn't manage to just... Throw it down like some kind of trash. The nail was left to the old nailmaster of dirtmouth. The cloak was used to build a tombstone. The map they'd drawn were given to the old couple that had a shop based around map making. But there was one thing she kept with her. Their charms. 

She never used it. It felt rude to her. And scary. Because if she used it, it wouldn't be Ghost's anymore. And that was everything she had left from them. But she kept them everywhere she went to. And sadly, that meant Pharloom too. She was captured with the charms she carried so carefully around, but even in one of her most critical moments she refused to use them, always carefully hiding the little metal parts in her pockets. 

But now that she was in a place that was much safer. She could take them out once again and see their shine. Some were colourful. Most of them looked handmade. She had never really experienced what it felt like using charms before, mainly using tools as they were more efficient. She did carry hiveblood around while in the Hive, but was too young to remember what kind of feelings she had at that moment. 

"That's a pretty nice collection you've got there, little spider. Still, I never saw you using any of theses. Do you think you're too good for this kind of stuff ?"

Lace. She was safe, at Lace's place. The white bug had kept her in her home for a while now, and even if she wasn't sure about how she felt about her, she knew the white bug didn't meant harm to her anymore. 

"Thoses ... Aren't mine actually. They're my sibling's. That's why I don't use them."

"Well, you're sibling's not here for now, and those can be really useful sometimes ! I don't see why you shouldn't use them, even if it's only for trying ! Who knows what are they like ?!"

Hornet smiled weakly seeing Lace's enthousiasm. It was lovely. She never had the heart to tell her that her sibling weren't alive anymore, and she probably wouldn't understand why she wouldn't put theses on if she didn't mention such thing. But... Maybe Lace was right. Maybe trying theses charms, even once would be nice. Thoses were still Ghost's. They were the last thing Ghost let her have. So might as well try it. Just one charm would hurt, she guessed. 

"Okay ... I'll try."

She looked at the collection. Theses looked like normal little metal pins to her, nothing more. Sometimes a bit colourful, but she never understood how that kind of magic worked. But one of them felt different to her. It was shaped like a face, a deep red fact with bright glowing eyes. Something was calling her to it. She always thought she liked this charm because of the colors but ... She understood that it wasn't just that. 

So Hornet slowly put the pin at the top of her cloak, only to witness a dark shape coming out of the charm, flopping its wings for a second but immediately falling on the floor afterwards. 

"Wh-what is that thing ?!"

"I don't know, I've never seen it before !"

The creature looked similar to a belfly, having deep red and black parts on its body, with a much bigger head that ressembled the charm's. It was barely moving, only breathing weakly and meowing with a little voice once in a while. Hornet immediately grabbed the body to make sure of its state. 

"Oh my Wyrm they look really really weak ... It's true that I haven't used this charm since I found it..."

"Why didn't you use it ?! Look at him !!"

"How could I have known that there was a baby inside of a charm ?!" 

"I don't know !! Didn't your sibling told you ?!"

Hornet's face froze in shock and Lace didn't bother continuing, not hoping for any kind of answer anymore. 

"Well, okay, now is maybe not the time to think about that. How do we feed it is the best question for now. I literally have no idea of how we should feed such thing."

Hornet tried to think. The creature looked aggressive, yes, but that wasn't always meant for predators. And even if they were a predator, Hornet wasn't sure if she could catch anything before the little creature succumbs to hunger. She found this charm weeks ago. It was already a miracle that they remained alive for so long. The spider was just panicking, thinking that once again an innocent will loose their life because of her, but then she remembered. 

Something her mother taught her was survival. She wasn't someone that focused too much on training her daughter, yet she wanted to make sure Hornet was ready enough not to die in deepnest's first trap once she fell asleep. And survival was probably what she remembered the most. It was quick lessons on what was very useful in desperate situations. And one very important thing to have was lifeblood seeds. Not only they were perfect to help yourself survive in a place without any kind of food, but they were suitable for pretty much any hatchings, if Hornet ever had any. 

And now seemed to be the appropriate time to put this lesson in practice. 

Hornet grabbed one of the life seeds she kept into her cloak and slowly put the little red being between her arms. She then proceeded to take a deep bite in the blue body and put it next to the baby's mouth. The little being started meowing and seemed not to understand the situation at first, but after getting a few drops into their mouth they started to lick hungrily the liquid with little sounds of joy. The spider stared gently at the scene with a deep smile on her face, making sure that everything was alright and good. 

"I never knew you were the type to be a mother, Hornet."

"Is that so surprising ?" 

The white bug chuckled and started to slowly pet the red creature with an attentive look. 

"I wouldn't say so. You do act very aggressive and puffy in battle, but I think you are quite soft and caring outside of it. At least, that's what I can see."

She was kind of right. Hornet never seeked to be a mother, but always took care of the hatchlings she met, no matter the species. She missed her mother terribly and feeling like one helped her cope with it. It was kind of a nice feeling, mutual caring and soft moments for a supposedly heartless protector.

After staring at the two beings for quite a while, Lace got up, stretched and grabbed her pin. 

"I'm going to hunt. Lifeseed is good but if you start caring for this thing we'll have to be sure you get to eat too."

"Thanks Lace. I appreciate it."

"Tch. It's nothing. Y'know, I gotta eat too. Make sure that thing doesn't start munching on my things, that's all I'll ask you to do."

Lace slowly walked out of the house, watched by the spider that simply smiled. She looked back at the little creature. It seemed it had recovered quite a bit, already starting to move around and meowing twice as loud as before. 

They jumped off Hornet's arms, sneezed and immediately started looking around, finally noticing the pile of little badges laying around and rushed down to them. 

The little creature slowly sniffed the charms and started rubbing their head on it, almost slamming their body down onto the floor to feel contact with every single charm there was. After a little while of doing it, they carefully took few charms into their mouth, a tears started to roll down their cheeks.

And that's when Hornet understood. The child wasn't only craving food, but attention. They missed Ghost. They probably were linked to them in some kind of way. So they probably knew their fate. But just like Hornet, all they could do was mourn. 

"I guess we're just together now, huh ...? I don't know if I can even bring you back a little bit of your happiness but ... I swear I'll try my best."

The creature slowly started crying, and pur back down the charms on the ground. They looked back at Hornet, starring with their bright glowing eyes. Something resonated within her. A message. Gratefulness. For whom ? Ghost ? Or her ? She didn't know. Still, she embraced the little body one more time, focusing on he little meowing and purring the creature was emitting.

"... I know we both miss them. But we'll miss them together."

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really loved working on that fic. Honestly depending on how much attention it'll get I might make a series out of it but for now, I'll just wait


End file.
